Rusty dreams

Very close to the district of design and innovation of Barcelona coexists a reality far from the image of the city that local authorities purport to show. A reality in which hundreds of undocumented immigrants wake up every morning from the European dream that drove them to leave their home in sub-Saharan Africa. Without any possibility of regularizing their situation, nor therefore to find a job, to pick metal scrap to resell it has become for many of them their only means of subsistence.In the space that occupied the old Flea market of “Encants Vells” it was formed in 2014 a small community of about 30 immigrants, most from West Africa who using the remains of warehouses and building huts of wood, they mounted their bedrooms, a restaurant and several bars. The space was also used for work and guard the scrap metal and other objects collected by the city.Daily collection of scrap metals implies to walk many kilometers pushing a heavy supermarket trolley. It´s a hard work, especially during winter or summer months, not suitable for elderly or sick people. Being paid € 0,18 kg of iron and € 3-4 kg of copper, the daily earnings for collecting scrap are usually around 10-15 €.

“I thought Europe was a paradise, and that just before arriving the next day you could find a good job“, “In Barcelona if you have a job you can have a good life“, “When you get used in Europe is very difficult to go back home“, “I had never seen such a bad living conditions in Africa!“… were some of the phrases that I heard regularly during the realization of this report.

All these people left everything they had in their countries of origin, many risked their lives crossing the sea in overloaded boats, some were beaten by police, while trying to realize their dream of a better life. Despite the living conditions so deplorable that they´ve found here, most of them keep confidence in a better future in Europe and refuses to admit the failure it would mean to return home without success.

On 11 March 2015 the Glories settlement, the largest in Barcelona at the time, was evicted by the local police. It began to be torn down that same afternoon. All its inhabitants were distributed in various other small settlements in abandoned industrial buildings in the city. Since then they continue, as always, living a rusty dream.